I Trust You
by UmbralEquinox
Summary: Neku and the gang have been meeting up every Saturday for four weeks after the Long Game. Well, one of the members isn't there and hasn't been seen since the Game, but it can't stay that way forever; they're bound to bump into each other, especially associating with the Producer. Oneshot; rated T for language; faint JoshuaXNeku if you squint real hard.


**First fanfiction oh my god help meeee**

 **Ayy, I'm UmbralEquinox and this is my first fanfic on this site and it will probably suck (pardon my French) deez nuts. Sorry. So, I really like The World Ends With You. And Square Enix really left a lot to the imagination in the end. This is what I imagined would have happened after, I guess you could say, the world ended with you.**

 **I'msosorry. This author's note has already gone to hell. xD**

Summary: Neku and the gang have been meeting up every Saturday for four weeks after the Long Game. Well, one of the members isn't there and hasn't been seen since the Game, but it can't stay that way forever; they're bound to bump into each other, especially associating with the Conductor. Oneshot; rated T for language; faint JoshuaXNeku if you squint real hard.  


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"Rhyme, quit lecturing Beat about stupid misused phrases. No one cares." Neku waved his hand dismissively.

Rhyme shrugged with a little smile, while Beat held up his hand for a high five, which the orange-haired teen ignored as he continued. "No matter how much you try to help him, he's still stupid."

Beat immediately withdrew his hand with a little scoffing noise. "H-hey!" Shiki giggled, covering her mouth. Neku gave a faint grin.

"Come on, let's go to Mr. H's before Beat starts crying." Neku had made a persistent habit of picking on Beat since they first met up after the Long Game four weeks ago. The blond still hadn't gotten used to it, apparently, but he got over it fast. He was already fist-pumping the air with a shout of enthusiasm about leaving the Hachiko statue to visit Mr. H. while Rhyme happily mimicked him in the strange way siblings do. Beat was enthusiastic about a lot of things.

He was enthusiastic about basically _everything,_ actually.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

They weaved through the crowd to the little building in almost complete silence. Shiki and Rhyme whispered back and forth about something, but Beat didn't say anything so Neku wouldn't have a chance to tease him.

As they approached the WildKat Cafe, Beat let out a gasp and pointed at a red sign hanging on the door. "What the hell, man? It's closed! But H's place ain't _never_ closed!"

Shiki frowned, looking concerned. "I hope he's okay. Maybe he had something going on and had to close down shop."

Rhyme said nothing, her eyes narrowed in thought.

Neku shrugged. "Guess we'll have to test those theories," he said simply, starting towards the door. When he stopped at the entrance, he reached out and knocked.

Silence.

Then, a voice: "Who is it?"

"The only people who would knock because- _surprise!_ \- we're the only people who ever show up to this ghost cafe," replied Neku sarcastically to Mr. H's voice. A laugh sounded from the other side of the door with a clicking noise. Only then did it occur to Neku that there were blinds drawn in all of the windows and over the transparent part of the door. He rolled his eyes to himself. _God, Neku, you're such a retard._

"The door unlocking means you can come in, you know," called Mr. H with a chuckle from somewhere inside. Neku rolled his eyes again while the others in his group giggled and opened the door.

It was dark inside and the only source of light was the brightness of the weakening autumn sun breaking through the blinds. As soon as Neku took a step into the

doorway, he halted, his eyes widening and his heart dropping to his feet. Beat bumped into him. "Yo, why'd you stop? Get in the building!"

Neku numbly stepped to the side, not even bothering to say "That's what she said." In fact, Rhyme did it for him, but Beat just grumbled to himself because he couldn't turn on his sister. It seemed the siblings hadn't noticed Neku's unease, but Shiki did.

She frowned at him. "Neku? Are you all right? You look a little pale." When Neku didn't respond, she adjusted her glasses and turned to see what he was looking at.

Joshua.

Unlike Neku, who was silent, Shiki gasped and pointed at him. "You're... you're the one who-" She whirled around to face Neku, then back again, but said no more.

A boy leaned back on the counter in front of them, with silver-blond hair and violet eyes that showed traces of placid surprise. Neku took the opportunity of silence to speak. His voice shook a little bit. "Joshua? What are _you_ doing here?" He snapped harshly, his voice so shockingly toxic it made Shiki wince a bit.

Joshua recovered his composure and smirked. "Oh my, you forgot about me? Don't mind my presence, I'm just speaking with Mr. H." But he didn't resume their conversation; he was obviously expecting a retaliation or response of some sort on Neku's part, and Neku only. As for Mr. H, the man was standing behind the counter, drinking what was presumably coffee, watching the scene with eyes as cool as a cat's behind his sunglasses.

Rhyme looked around at everyone curiously. Shiki looked terrified; Beat seemed confused and angry, while Neku sounded absolutely furious; Joshua's expression was calm, and Mr. H's showed signs of amusement. She didn't know this "Joshua" boy, and she could guess that Neku knew him and something had happened between the two to spark this sort of reaction. But none in the group ever spoke of a "Joshua." _They had to have met after I got erased._

She felt like she should imitate Beat, but she knew she couldn't be angry at someone she'd never met. So instead, she took a tentative step forward and then, when no one stopped her, walked a little faster up to Joshua.

" _RHYME!_ " Beat barked loudly to her, making everyone's eardrums die a little bit. " _YO, WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!_ " But Rhyme ignored her brother and cautiously stared at the silver-blond stranger. Even _he_ looked surprised.

It was him who spoke first. "Rhyme? You're one of the Bito twins, I'm guessing?" He spoke in a soft tone, surprising everyone.

"Yeah," she said brightly, smiling at him. "And I'm guessing you're Joshua." She stuck out a hand, and he shook it. Rhyme was only a few inches shorter than him, she noticed; Joshua was a tad shorter than Neku.

He giggled. "That would be me. You're much quieter than Beat to look so much like him," he added, glancing at the three by the door. "They never said anything about a Joshua?" She shook her head.

"Hm," came the terse response. But he shot a look at the aforementioned trio that said, " _We'll talk about this later._ " As if he was certain there would be a later.

"Who _are_ you?" She asked.

"I'm... not very sure how, or if I'm _supposed_ to, explain that," he said thoughtfully. He turned his attention on the group- no- solely on Neku. They gazed across the room silently at each other, filling the area with an uneasy tension. Neku walked up to the silver-blond, who leaned back the slightest bit, still smirking.

Neku gritted his teeth and spoke, destroying the deafening lack of sound. "You're an ass."

Joshua's cocky grin remained mostly in tact as he raised his eyebrows in feigned surprise. "No need to be profane. What provoked that?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Neku snarled in response. "You- I trusted you, and then you shot me a _second time!_ And when you decided to let everyone live, I thought you'd maybe get off your damn high horse and come hang out with us! You let me down! I thought..." His eyes teared up a bit and his voice cracked. "... I thought that we were _friends._ I _trusted_ you. And the worst part is, I still do." Suddenly, he dropped his head and wrapped his arms around Joshua, burying his face in the silver-blond's shirt and sobbing. The boy on the receiving end of the embrace looked absolutely _mortified._

He looked up at Shiki and Beat, over at Rhyme and Mr. H, and back to the former.

Shiki wrung her hands uncertainly, her brown hair falling in front of her eyes as she looked down at the floor. "I-" she began, but trailed off.

Mr. H. slowly came around the front of the counter with an amused grin on his face. He cleared his throat. "I'd say we'd better leave these two alone for the moment." He turned on his heel and whisked through a door in the back, and the others followed him.

Seconds of silence ticked into minutes. It had to have been at least four (seemingly an eternity) before Joshua built up the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd actually want to hang out with your double-murderer." Neku looked up at him in surprise.

As soon as he saw Joshua, he burst out laughing, backing away from the silver-blond and pointed at him. "Oh god, your _face!_ " It was the first time he'd ever seen the Composer with a confused expression, and Neku enjoyed his apparent discomfort.

But now it was more curiosity with the hint of a smirk. "I'm getting _very_ mixed messages here, Neku. If you want to date me, you can just ask."

"Screw off! I just want you to come hang out with us."

Joshua crossed his arms. "It's so peculiar how you still trust me after I tricked, lied to, and kept things from you, and shot you that time." Neku gave him a withering look. "My bad. Twice."

Neku went back over the little thought he had four weeks ago. "I can't forgive you," he repeated, "but I trust you."

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 **OH MY GOD IT'S WORSE THAN I THOUGHT I'M SORRY. Hopefully, I'll eventually get used to this whole writing thing. Leave a review on the good, the bad, and the ugly if you want. I've already scoured this document for mistakes, so if you could tell me if there are any others I missed or that I did on purpose and didn't know were wrong, that would be the bees' knees. ADVICE IS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.**

 **It's up to you to decide if everything works out and how.**

 **(Also, if you were wondering what Rhyme and Shiki were whispering about, it was how you should commit murder using an icicle as a weapon.)**

 **Well, hopefully that didn't make you cringe too much, and I'll write you in the next fanfic!**

 **-UmbralEquinox**


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